MONITORING AND POPULATION STUDIES CENTRE

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Through the Artificial Incubation Centre and the Andean Condor Rescue Centre it is feasible to include individuals in in-situ conservation programmes for the species. As a result, it is possible to later release these birds to their natural habitat throughout the south American Andes. Until December 2016, the PCCA achieved a regional record, being able to reintroduce 163 condors throughout South America.

Thanks to the use of satellite transmitters, data is received that shows the different positions of tagged individuals. This information is used in various field bases and through the use of GPS (Global Positioning System) we study the position of each condor and record relevant information for their conservation.

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By the use of satellite technology, it was possible to monitor an area of over 388.000 Km2 and begin to understand the flight capacity of this species. It became evident that the main National Parks do not cover the necessary flight area covered by these birds and therefore a conservation strategy that only focuses on these Parks would not be effective. Hence the importance to join international efforts arises for their conservation. From night-time data it was possible to discover the “condoreras”, places where the condors gather to sleep, with groups of up to 124 individuals.  By use of GIS it is possible to determine if a condorera is isolated or in close proximity to a road or city, allowing to then asses the possible risk of environmental impact. The location of isolated condoreras will be kept confidential, while exposed ones will be added as declared natural “sanctuaries” and are included in educational conservation programmes.

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In addition, a special programme that is a flight simulator system called DECOSAT, allows us to visualize and understand the movement patterns of those individuals that are released into their natural habitat, comparing their different origins and age and sex category, amongst other variables.